P2.5
Using IDL as an unique approach for an automated weather forecast website
Ann L. Mazuk, The Aerospace Corporation, Los Angeles, CA; and L. O. Belsma, A. T. Stier, and A. A. Fote
We have developed the capability to automate 36 hour weather forecasts over the Los Angeles basin at 5 km resolution using National Center for Atmospheric Research’s (NCAR) mesoscale model (MM5) as a prototype for use in air quality predictions and terrorist threat emergency response. Both ground-based and satellite-based observations are assimilated into MM5 using NCAR’s 3DVAR. The model output is then compared with the observational data for verification of the model. A website was created using Research Systems IDL as the backbone to automatically update with visualizations from the MM5 runs as well as the verification plots. Many web developers chose to use Perl or CGI scripting for this task. Because IDL is used frequently by scientists for their analysis, scientists are able to create a website such as ours and not need to learn another scripting language or hire a web developer. This poster describes our unique approach of using IDL to post daily weather forecasts and verifications for the Los Angeles basin.
Poster Session 2, IIPS Poster Session II
Wednesday, 12 January 2005, 2:30 PM-4:00 PM
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